Ireland will continue to attract business investment due to our “great talent pool”, stable business environment and our strong and consistent economic performance.
This was the key message at the American Chamber of Commerce Ireland, 2025 Global Business Conference.
In his keynote address, Fernando Vicario, chief executive of Bank of America Europe DAC, and country head for Ireland said that Ireland’s extensive track record of attracting and retaining foreign investment is the result of “over 50 years of consistent hard work, innovation and stability of institutions such as the American Chamber of Commerce, the IDA and Enterprise Ireland which make investors very comfortable to operate here.”
“That’s a great recipe for success,” he said. This has allowed Ireland to become “a consistent outperformer in terms of our average growth of GDP”
Fernando Vicario added: “We also have a strong talent pool. Ireland has for many years recognised the need to commit to constant investment to attract, develop and retain great talent, which is now paying dividends.”
Ireland’s competitive advantages for business were further highlighted by Michael Lohan, chief executive IDA Ireland. He said: “Ireland is the gateway to the world, supporting innovation throughout local markets, and we shouldn’t forget that”. He noted that Ireland should continue to focus on being that bridge to Europe and the rest of the world because “foreign markets are required” for business.
Ireland’s position as a significant global trading partner is reinforced by its position as the 6th largest investor into the US. The US is also Ireland’s largest trading partner for both imports and exports. However, this is very much a two-way relationship, with more than 211,000 people directly employed by US multinationals in Ireland.
Jenny Melia, executive director at Enterprise Ireland echoed this message, saying: “When I look back to 2023, EI clients had exports of about six and a half billion into North America”, a 300 per cent increase when compared to 2013 figures.
However, key challenges in relation to Ireland’s energy infrastructure, tax regime, R&D tax credit and support for emerging technologies remain. Such challenges must be addressed in order for Ireland to remain a competitive destination for business.
At the same time, Ireland and the world is operating against a changing backdrop, preparing for the potential imposition of new tariffs, businesses across key sectors face a period of uncertainty. Exporters and importers alike are bracing for increased costs that could impact pricing, profitability, and supply chain efficiency. In response, companies must move quickly to assess their exposure. Yet amid the challenges, there is also an opportunity: this shift may catalyse innovation, strengthen connections and build greater long-term resilience in Ireland’s trade ecosystem.
Chris Collins, country president for Schneider Electric Ireland, highlighted the importance of “not resting on our laurels” and the need “to think differently for the next generation” especially in regard to providing the infrastructure that will be needed to secure Ireland’s renewable energy targets.
He said; “I know we have great ambitions about renewable targets for Ireland, and we have vast resources with the wind power off the coast of Ireland but we’re not harvesting it fast enough and part of that is because there’s not a certainty in the planning process and it takes too long to get these projects from planning permission all the way through to shovels on the ground.”
Aileen Daly, tax partner at EY spoke about the importance of Ireland building on its success in ensuring its tax regime remains competitive. While the certainty of Ireland’s tax policy has always left investors with “huge confidence” the rate differential between Ireland and our closest neighbours, including the Netherlands and Luxembourg, has narrowed. She said: “In practical terms what that means is the measures that have gotten us here today won’t necessarily continue to attract FDI in the same way as before.” While Ireland is “starting from a good place, we have an attractive tax regime”, there are “lots of areas where we can improve as well.”
Paul Kelleher, AmCham’s southern region chair and vice-president of Engineering at QT Technologies Ireland Limited (Qualcomm Ireland), highlighted the need to speed up the response and support for FDI companies to apply for Ireland’s R&D tax credit which is “a key driver for the future here”.
Kelleher also spoke about the importance of extending the scope of this tax credit to new areas of research where the applications have not yet been discovered.
Anne O’Leary, head of Meta Ireland spoke about how the support of the Irish Government for companies looking to scale with new technologies such as AI is invaluable. “In some ways I am really optimistic about the time we are in, I think all of us here in Ireland, all of the big tech companies that are here, all of us here in the room, we can help the Government. We have a very willing and open Government, that wants to engage, that are listening, that are stable and coherent.”
Speakers at the conference highlighted the opportunities for Ireland to become a leader in this space due to our highly skilled and educated talent pool.
Denis Hannigan, UKI Data & AI lead – Strategy & Consulting at Accenture said “we have a lot of the raw materials to be very successful in the age of AI. We have a digitally savvy young workforce, we have a strong presence of a lot of leading tech companies in this country and a strong ecosystem.”
Niamh Smyth TD, Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment with special responsibility for Trade Promotion, Artificial Intelligence and Digital Transformation was guest of honour at the conference and gave a keynote address also pointing out the incredible talent resource that FDI companies based here benefit from “Ireland is one of the best performers in the EU in terms of human capital.”
She also highlighted that Ireland continues to produce “the most STEM graduates per capita in the EU”. Ireland has also focused on “building on a foundation of a very strong academic-led approach to developing AI talent.” For the US companies based here “access to talent is one of the most significant factors.”
AmCham’s 2026 Global Business Conference will return to Croke Park on 26 February 2026. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce was AmCham’s 2025 US conference partner, and the Irish Times was AmCham’s 2025 official media partner.
